Everyone on the photo staff at the San Antonio Express-News has a Harry Cabluck story. Everyone but me, that is. I never had the pleasure of meeting this man that is referred to by many as a Texas legend and a Capitol treasure. Harry has been making pictures since before I was born, and I ainâ€™t no spring chicken. The Texas Tribune reported that his career has spanned more than 50 years, 40 of those for the Associated Press. On Nov. 17, 2009, his job with the AP in Austin ended, another casualty of our crippled industry in which layoffs have become the norm.

As I listened to the various stories, I loved how the storytellers would channel Harry by imitating his voice. From the impersonations, I gathered that he is one of those rarest of human beings: cantankerous and loveable in the same breath.

I decided to peruse the AP archive looking for photos by Harry, knowing to keep an eye out for the one of Carlton Fisk hitting a home run in the 1975 World Series that Billy Calzada thought might be hanging in a hall of fame somewhere and something about a football â€œimmaculate reception,â€ and then there was that killer rabbit photo, or not. And then that time at the Texas Open when Harry had the worst position but in the end made the best picture, beating out the two staffers we had in the sure-shot positions.

When I typed â€œHarry Cabluck,â€ the search returned 135 pages of 60 images per page. Yeah, thatâ€™s a lot of pictures; most of them were only from the past 10 years. I went through every single one.

I learned that sports photography comes easy to Harry, or at least he makes it look that way. I saw that he has photographed more national leaders than I can count on all my fingers and toes. I noticed the ease people such as former president George W. Bush and Gov. Rick Perry felt in front of his camera. And I was blown away by the behind-the-scenes pictures of the Pittsburgh Steelersâ€™ stellar quarterback Terry Bradshaw in his prime.

One Response to “A tribute to Harry Cabluck”

Mr. Elliott,Letters via USPS sounds so novel in the internet age even when it is one letter produced for many, nonetheless it doesn’t sound like a pen-pal relationship. Can just one write back again into the author in the letter?